Category Archives: DVDs

DVDs, Movies, TV

“North Korea’s Deadly Dictator” takes an eye-opening look at how King Jong-un thinks and perpetuate his own power

In 2017, Kim Jong-un’s half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, was ambushed in a Malaysian airport by two women bearing a lethal chemical weapon 10 times more powerful than sarin. He died en route to the hospital. Who planned the murder of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother, and what does it reveal about the leader and his regime?

Frontline: North Korea’s Deadly Dictator is now available on DVD. The program is also available for digital download.

As nuclear tensions between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un escalate, producer Jane McMullen examines claims the North Korean leader and his intelligence services ordered the assassination on Kim Jong-nam, and sheds light on his broader intentions and nuclear capabilities.

Drawing on interviews with a leading North Korean defector, diplomats, experts, Kim Jong-nam’s school friends and even a former North Korean secret agent, the documentary is a rare glimpse inside the secretive country; an eye-opening look at both how King Jong-un thinks, and how he’s trying to ensure his regime’s survival and perpetuate his own power.

DVDs, Movies

We think of “Same Kind of Different as Me” as a miracle, a film that proves how a simple act of kindness can change everything.

Love is all around. And love is the same kind, even if a person is different.

Welcome to Same Kind of Different As Me, arriving on Blu-ray and DVD on February 20 from Paramount Home Media Distribution.  The film arrives on Digital tomorrow.

Based on The New York Times bestselling book and recipient of the Dove Foundation seal of approval for ages 12+, Same Kind of Different as Me follows successful art dealer Ron Hall (portrayed by Greg Kinnear) and his wife Debbie (Renée Zellweger), who seemingly have the perfect life.  But when their faith and family are tested, an unlikely bond with a homeless drifter (Djimon Hounsou). The film shows how a simple act of kindness can change everything.

The Blu-ray includes over an hour of behind-the-scenes bonus content, including deleted and extended scenes, featurettes, and commentary by director Michael Carney and writers Ron Hall and  Alexander Foard.  The DVD includes the feature film only.

DVDs, Movies, TV

“VA: The Human Cost of War” is a probing, profound film, another winner from Ric Burns

What is the exact human cost of war? Directed by six-time Emmy -winning filmmaker Ric Burns and executive produced by Lois Pope, VA: The Human Cost of War (PBS Distribution) takes a broad look at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, examining the organization’s history, leadership, structure, funding and relationship to veterans.The documentary examines the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, from its inception to the present day, exploring its successes and failures in properly caring for veterans upon their return from war, its critical role in the American healthcare system, and the need for major reform.

https://youtu.be/lqBD0hmUUA8

 Tracing its troubled beginnings as the Veterans Bureau of the 1920s through to the organization’s transformation into a modern healthcare system after World War II, the film tracks the ways in which the VA has had to quickly adapt to new challenges and obstacles as it attempts to care for veterans. Beholden to the executive branch for its funding and detached logistically from the leaders who plan and execute war, the VA has had to find ways to deal with the consequences and costs of war, which are incurred long after the fighting ceases. From the psychological and physical wounds of soldiers returning from Vietnam, to the changing demographic make-up of the troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, the film investigates the Department’s successes and gross missteps as its burden continues to grow larger, more complicated, and increasingly politicized.

Told through a series of personal stories from veterans and intertwined with deep historical and political analysis from leading scholars and elected officials, the film illustrates the key ways in which the VA, and we as a society, fail our veterans, who, according to Department of Veterans Affairs research, continue to commit suicide at the harrowing rate of 20 veterans per day.

DVDs, Movies

Paramount Home Media unleashes “Daddy’s Home 2” and “Daddy’s Home” is super 4K Ultra Packs

Father’s Day is months away, but we can’t think of a funnier way to pre-celebrate all things daddies than with the uproarious family comedy Daddy’s Home 2 coming home on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD February 20 from Paramount Home Media Distribution.  The original Daddy’s Home also arrives February 20 on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and both films will be available in a two-movie Blu-ray Double Feature pack.\

When it comes to raising their kids, Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) and Brad (Will Ferrell) finally have this co-parenting thing down.  That is, until Dusty’s macho dad (Mel Gibson) and Brad’s sweet-natured father (John Lithgow) come to town, throwing the whole family into complete chaos.  As old rivalries create new problems, Dusty and Brad’s partnership is put to the ultimate test in this hilarious and heartwarming comedy that gives new meaning to the term ‘blended family.’

Think ypou’ve seen the funny flicks? Think again: Daddy’s Home 2 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack and Blu-ray Combo Pack feature more than 45 minutes of bonus content.  Go behind the scenes with five featurettes, deleted/ extended/alternate scenes and a hilarious gag reel.  In addition, the  Daddy’s Home 2  Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD discs boast a Dolby Atmos soundtrack remixed specifically for the home theater environment to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead and the 4K Ultra HD disc features Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR), which delivers greater brightness and contrast, as well as a fuller palette of rich colors.

DVDs, TV

Public Media Distribution serves up a most tasty MOVEABLE FEAST WITH FINE COOKING – SEASON 5

Good food takes time. Good DVDs showcasing good food takes time. We urge you to save the date: Public Media Distribution, LLC is releasing Moveable Feast With Fine Cooking: Season 5 on DVD on March 6. The program will also be available for digital download.
Nominated for an Emmy and James Beard Award, and winner of both Telly and TASTE Awards, Moveable Feast With Fine Cooking is co-hosted this season by award-winning chefs Pete Evans and Curtis Stone, and special guest chef Michelle Bernstein. In Season Five they bring viewers to Europe and Puerto Rico, in addition to locations in the United States, to meet top chefs and award-winning food artisans to source the finest regional ingredients and create a multi-course feast for friends.

Viewers will learn cooking tips and techniques from talented chefs, including Patricia Wells, Guy Savoy, Bryan Voltaggio, Tom Douglas, and Sherry Yard, and discover how they can interpret the chefs’ flavorful dishes in their own kitchen. Diners enjoy these spectacular meals hosted in unique places, from the breathtaking mustard fields of Dijon and rice farms near Turin, to a stunning vineyard in San Luis Obispo and an authentic Taos pueblo. Viewers will want a seat at the table!

DVDs, TV

“The Gilded Age” is a riveting documentary about the very, very, very, very rich . . . and the rest of us

To Gild the lily? We know that means unnecessarily adorning something already beautiful.  The expression is a condensation of Shakespeare’s metaphor in King John: “To gild refined gold, to paint the lily … is wasteful and ridiculous excess.”

Thirty years after the Civil War, America had transformed itself into an economic powerhouse and was fast becoming the world’s leading producer of food, coal, oil and steel. But the transformation had created stark new divides in wealth, class and opportunity. By the end of the 19th century, the richest 4,000 families in the country—less than one percent of all Americans—possessed nearly as much wealth as the other 11.6 million families combined. The simultaneous growth of a lavish new elite and a struggling working class sparked passionate and violent debate over questions still being asked today: How is wealth best distributed, and by what process? Should the government concern itself with economic growth or economic justice? Are we two nations—one for the rich and one for the poor—or one nation where everyone has a chance to succeed?

The story is told in the riveting American Experience: The Gilded Age (PBS Distribution).

The Gilded Age, as it later came to be known, was dominated by larger-than-life men who wielded power across industrial and economic sectors. While the elite luxuriated in splendor, America’s cities were bursting with immigrants and former slaves looking for opportunity. A message resounded among the working class: Was America a land of opportunity or a closed system run by the few for their own gain? The program is a compelling portrait of an era of glittering wealth contrasted with extreme poverty.

Celebrity Chatter, DVDs, TV

And awaaay we go! Time Life releases “The Jackie Gleason Show” in color

Everything about Jackie Gleason was big: his huge talent, his outsized personality, and his expansive waist line.  Even his grave, which we visited when we were in Miami. (June Taylor, best known as the founder of the June Taylor Dancers who appeared on The Great One’s show, is buried close to Jackie’soutdoor mausoleum.)
Jackie and June’s dancers.

Even bigger was The Jackie Gleason Show, his successful TV Variety show, taped in color from his hometown of Miami Beach from 1966 to 1970.  Tomorrow, Time Life releases the inaugural DVD release of Jackie’s show, one of the ’60s most beloved programs . . . . and unseen for nearly 50 years! (The master tapes had resided in a vault in South Florida until now.)

Gleason was everyone’s working-class hero, and his smash-hit show delivered an hour of non-stop entertainment every single week.  Enthralled home audiences were treated to entertainment of the highest order, singing, dancing, hilarious comedy and Jackie at his very best as Ralph Kramden and on stage with all his famous friends, including Milton Berle, Red Buttons, George Carlin, Nipsey Russell, Phil Silvers.  The single disc features four never-before-released, remastered episodes of the show including three unreleased Honeymooners sketches, all unseen for more than 50 years!
 Image result for jackie gleason grave

 

The Jackie Gleason Show had been broadcast live and later taped in New York City since 1952, but in 1964, Gleason wanted to be based where he could play golf all year round.  Hank Meyer, a longtime South Florida publicist, knew just the spot and convinced Jackie to bring his show to Miami Beach, the sun and fun capital of the world.  However, back in the ’60s, it was a novel undertaking to broadcast from Miami Beach, and more than a hundred families relocated to stay with the show.  Plus, there was barely any production infrastructure in South Florida, which all had to be created by Jackie and his team.  It paid off and the revamped show was a huge success.

This postcard was sent to fans who requested tickets to the show. Note a very tanned Gleason.
The Jackie Gleason Show delivered, Ralph Kramden, Gleason’s most indelible and legendary creation, as well as an unforgettable gallery of characters he himself created and fine-tuned. Most memorably, Gleason and Art Carney revived their Honeymooners roles, with Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean added as the new Alice and Trixie, all presented in glorious color for the first time.
So cue the travelin’ music and heed the big man’s message before he glides offstage: “And awaaay we go!”
DVDs, Movies

“House of Demons” will chill and thrill viewers . . . why wait for Halloween?

Halloween is months ago, but terror finds a new home early in the supernatural horror-thriller House of Demons, hitting DVD tomorrow thanks to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Gwen, Matthew, Katrina and Spencer were best friends for years, until a terrible tragedy tore them apart. Ten years later, they reunite in a rented house for a destination wedding.

What they don’t know is that in the late ‘60s, the house was home to a Manson Family-like cult run by Frazer, a charismatic former scientist pushing the boundaries of human consciousness. His experiments echo through time and manifest everyone’s darkest fears and memories, blurring time as Frazer’s cult and the present day collide over the course of one long night, where everyone must confront their darkness or be destroyed by it.
Amber Benson leads a hot cast of up-and-coming actors in this chilling tale. (You’ll meet them in one of the DVD’s great bonus tracks.) We’ve warned you.

 

DVDs, TV

Sat it isn’t so! The blockbuster French drama “A French Village” has ended. Yes, we cried. Much.

Dire que c’est pas si! We spent much of January 30 weeping. That was the dreaded day we learned that the final season of A French Village would premiere on MHz Choice. The only “good” news: The show would be followed by a February 13 DVD release.

The blockbuster French drama, starring Audrey Fleurot and Thierry Godard, chronicled the impact of World War II on a small village in central France. The German occupation changes the life of the village of Villeneuve forever, and as its residents come under the pressures of war, they make choices that are inspiring and heartbreaking.

In this gripping drama, ordinary citizens become patriots, traitors, Nazi employees or activists. Beginning with the Germans’ arrival in June 1940, they endure five years of rationing, fighting and betrayals, and strain to keep some semblance of their existence intact. The war shatters all their lives, but a few of them, even in the shadow of destruction, reach out to find fleeting moments of connection and love. Now it’s 1945, the war is over and those survivors are left to face their greatest battle, the future.

CDs, DVDs, Movies, Music

Be ready for the release of “Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan”

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. Marking the 15th anniversary of the Grammy-nominated Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan, MVD Entertainment Group will reissue the film of the same title. Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan features an intense 1980 Bob Dylan performance of “When He Returns,” as well as powerful performances and interviews with Aaron Neville, Shirley Caesar, Fairfield Four, Mighty Clouds of Joy and Dottie Peoples, reflecting on their faith and connections to Dylan’s Christian music.

“It was an honor to have made an impression on the great artist himself with these recordings,” says the film’s producer Jeffrey Gaskill. From 2009 to 2011, Bob Dylan opened 40 concerts around the world with “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking” (his Grammy-nominated new version re-written and recorded for Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan) in concert halls in Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Adelaide and this performance in Tel Aviv (watch it HERE).

Just a month after his recording with Mavis Staples, Dylan kicked off a new tour in Stockholm, Sweden and performed “Solid Rock” (what many consider the theme song to his gospel era concerts) for the first time in more than 20 years. Dylan would continue to perform this rousing song as well as other gospel era songs at numerous concerts across Europe and beyond.

“This gospel music was Bob Dylan’s ultimate rebellion, and it took much more courage than strapping on an electric guitar,” recalls Gaskill. The film offers historical insights into this Bob Dylan era provided by Jim Keltner, Fred Tackett, Spooner Oldham and Regina McCrary, all of whom performed and recorded with Dylan at the time.